Windows/OS X/Android/iOS: Carbonite Currents keeps track of the documents you open and work with, and gives you access to all of them on any device. If you work on a file and forget to put it in your Dropbox folder or email it to yourself, Currents shows it to you. Plus, it's completely free.

Advertisement

The video above does a great job at describing Currents, which is Carbonite's first non-backup related product. Install the free app on any device you work with, desktop or mobile, home or at the office. Then, as you work, the files you access will float to the top of your Currents list. You can select the folders on your computer you want Currents to keep an eye on for changes. You can even select items from your mobile device for Currents to watch, like your camera roll, music, or movies. Be default, the app will keep 30 days of revision history and file/folder changes, so you don't have to worry about accidentally deleting something or overwriting a file you meant to open or change.

Once installed, Currents shows you all of your most recently changed or created files on all of your devices, in all of your watched folders. You can open them right from currents and work with them immediately. You can share files with others, view or add comments to the files, or view the revision history on any device.

Advertisement

Carbonite positions Currents as a bit of a competitor to Dropbox, which you know we're huge fans of. We don't see it that way: Currents is more of a useful addition to a cloud storage service, not a replacement. You can even tell Currents to monitor your Dropbox folder if you want—I did. You don't have to manage another cloud service, or deal with storage quotas or issues—it's just an easy way to get access to and organize the files you work with most often, anywhere on any system they may be.

If you're interested, the service is in public beta, and its Android app is live at Google Play. You can also snag the universal iPhone and iPad app from the iTunes App Store. Expect a few bugs here and there (like files that are slow to load or appear in Currents, and a very non-tablet optimized Android UI, but we still had a better time of it than our friends at AndroidPolice did) but during our testing the service performed pretty well and worked as advertised. I could easily see and open files I worked with on my Windows and OS X desktops using my Android phone. The beta is completely free, and Carbonite is planning a premium service in the future that will let you track longer than 30 days of revision history.